HK Expedition II: Inner Mongolia cum Beijing Trip

Finally back from my one week Spring break; travelled more than 5000km for the past one week or so. There is some delay though and I am only back in campus at around 1.15pm yesterday. There are many people to thank for the success of this trip and I am especially grateful to Felix, my travel partner for the fun sessions and being there when we met up with "mishap"; Shu Chen and his mom, for providing us with accomodation in Shenzhen the night before we departed; Lan Yu and wife, for providing us with accomodations and spent time keeping us company in Beijing; Wong Cang and Neng Jie, for bringing us around the Great Wall and Peking University; Xiong Hao's parents, for being so friendly and took care of me during my less-than-3-hours stay in Chang Sha; those who prayed for our safety during the time we were away.

So on the whole, is this a great trip? Well, mixed feelings. We had our fair share of unhappiness and fun moments. I guess that is the price one has to pay if you want to see the world. After this trip, both of us have grown and become wiser (hopefully).

Inner Mongolia gave us the "best" memories. We were like open targets for people to cheat us from day 1. Sick man! It started with the boss of the travel agency scooping us RMB$1380 on the first day. That was the cost for the whole trip including food, accomodation, driver, entrance fees to some attractions etc. However, it excludes all the fees we have to pay inside the attractions lor. In addition, the food and accomodation we got isn't that fantastic. Our driver told us that he doesn't have enough budget to bring us for BBQ lamb! Crab lor. Darn boss.

Following that, we have to bargain throughout the tour lor! we bargained in the grassland for the horse ride from RMB$560 to RMB$400; bargained for the desert from RMB$300 to RMB$240. We bargained till our throat dried up. In addition, I caught the flu bug from day 1 of the trip. Luckily, our driver brought me to see the doctor and I got better throughout the holiday. Those people were so mean man.

The worst has yet to come. The final day in Inner Mongolia was the worst! We visited the Genghis Khan Mausoleum and when we were there, something really nasty happened. The Mongolian guards in the museum suspected that we took photos in the museum and confiscated the SD card in the camera. We tried to reason out with them but they don't listen. They said that we are Han people and pretend not to know mandarin. Crab lor. Felix doesn't know mandarin as he is a CBC. For me, when I started speaking to them, they told me that I pretended not to know from the start. Ahhh. Argued for quite some time and nearly fought. Following that, I went to get our driver in to settle the dispute but nothing good came out of it. The darn guards made us walked in circles and made the driver drove us round in circles to locate the guy who took the SD card. In the end, when we found him, he told us that they have investigated and found photos taken in the museum. I was pissed lor. When we put the SD card in the camera and showed him the photos, no pictures were taken inside the museum lor. However, he insisted that we took it!!! Pissed........

I mean, if he wanna frame us, at least be smarter. He could at least use another camera and take some shots in the museum and use it to frame us. Instead, he just insisted verbally that we took it. Crazy man. In the end, he said he'll fine us RMB$100 each and let the matter rest. If not, we can go with him to the police and investigate. He suspected that we are not tourists and were spies instead. Crab man. Us spies?? Duhhhh! I would have gone with him to the police if not for the fact that we are catching the 9pm train to Beijing and we were like 400km from Hohhot! In the end, I reluctantly parted with my RMB$100 bill and gave him another S$10 plastic bill. Ahhh, my precious plastic S$10 bill. *sad*

Anyway, photos of Inner Mongolia below. Enjoy.

Outside a restaurant that is built like the Mongolian Bao.

In the barren grassland (the season isn't right; by right, it should be filled with green grass. *sad)

Barren grassland.

Frozen river!!! First time I saw such things in my life.

Felix on the horse.

At the desert, with our dear driver.

On the camel.

Extremely tasty Mongolian milk! I'll go over to SZ to buy more when I have the time.

Our next stop was Beijing and Lan Yu was kind enough to came over to the train station to fetch us. We stayed at his place for the next 3 days and he took us around Beijing most of the time. The trip to Beijing was good and I finally get to see the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and Imperial Palace. Nothing much to complain about Beijing, except for the fact that the road is as lawless as any other chinese cities. People still spit on the ground. Oh yah, Peking duck isn't as good as I thought. Cantonese dishes rule! *lol*

Photos of Beijing:

Felix and I at the Great Wall.